Photo courtesy of Juliana Logan

For some, wearing a cloak to class feels more like a scene out of a fantasy film than a modern-day experience, but for junior marketing major Juliana Logan, a cloak is just one of several iconic clothing pieces that she chooses from before leaving her dorm.

Logan’s experiences with fashion are far easier to describe than explaining where she’s from.

Her stepfather is a former Marine and used to work for the Department of Veterans Affairs, which meant that Logan’s family moved around a lot – Logan was born in Southern California before moving to Utah when she was six and Virginia when she was 10. Now, when Logan visits home, however, she takes the train to Maryland.

Though moving around the country was difficult, and Logan at times struggled to make friends in the three elementary schools, one middle school and one high school she attended, encouragement from her mother ensured that fashion was always a hobby she could turn to.

“My mom has always been a bit unconventional; even though they were raised Jehovah’s Witness, they were always trying to go to thrift stores and have their own style within the church,” Logan said. “When I was born, my mom was very clear with letting me do what I wanted and express myself. There was never an expectation that I should be something different, and even though I don’t match with my mom’s personal style, they were always supportive of mine.”

When she was younger, most of Logan’s style preferences involved pink, princess-y outfits, which set her apart from many of her peers while she lived in Utah.

“I was already the non-religious kid,” Logan said. “I was blonde as a child, so I got a lot of the dumb blonde jokes, and I was really feminine and into Barbie. With all of those things combined, I started feeling weird, like I couldn’t be all those things at once, so I decided I could no longer like pink.”

As Logan grew older, her fashion interests changed. While she once wore sparkly Justice shoes, she eventually switched to black lace-up boots.

“People in middle school knew me because sometimes I would forget my gym shoes, and I would run the mile in those shoes,” Logan said.

Now, Logan has started to reclaim her love of colorful articles of clothing (she recently just acquired four pink corsets). She continues to honor her time in Utah with a different accessory – the dinosaur purses she often sports on campus.

Her interest in these unconventional purses stems from her elementary school history classes, which were devoted to studying dinosaurs. Logan’s first dinosaur purse was her teal stegosaurus purse; a family member gifted matching ones to her and her younger sibling. She eventually acquired two more dinosaur purses – a black tyrannosaurus rex and a lavender triceratops – to complete her dinosaur purse trifecta.

Logan’s cloak, which is arguably her most distinctive clothing item, stemmed from the first time she met an acquaintance from school who wore a cloak as a casual outfit element. At the time, Logan was also beginning her interest in “Dungeons & Dragons” – a community that also enjoys wearing cloaks.

“He wore a cloak, and I was like ‘That is the coolest thing ever,’” Logan said. “He then proceed[ed] to make out with my neighbor underneath said cloak, which I was not as excited about.”

Even after acquiring a dress that had cloak-like elements, Logan’s desire for a real cloak was still not satisfied, and she requested a cloak for Christmas. The end result? The cloak that Juliana wears around campus.

The cloak, made by her grandmother, ended up being approximately 7-8 yards of wool and 7-8 yards of satin lining.

“She bought all of the fabric for it, and all of the trimmings, and the buttons at the top were custom made from a silversmith,” Logan said.

Despite her love for fashion, sometimes being a recognizable figure based on clothing can be more difficult than people might think.

“In elementary school in Utah, you had to write birthday cards for everyone,” Logan said. “I kept one which I come back to every so often – out of my whole class, one of them says that I’m a good friend, and every single other one said something complimenting my appearance.”

“When someone comes up to me saying ‘You wear that cloak, right,’ they know me because of what I look like, not usually because they know me. The most recognizable part about me has been my fashion since elementary school.”

Even so, fashion is such an integral part of Logan’s life that she doesn’t plan to stop coming up with new outfits anytime soon.

“I really like putting together an outfit,” Logan said. “I think it’s fun. I like getting a little prompt from someone, I love dressing up for a theme. I think it’s fun to be able to put something together in a way that you haven’t before because someone gave you a prompt that you hadn’t considered.”